


Come Along, Mars

by HoneyBee123



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Crossover, Drama, F/M, Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2017-12-06 11:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/735031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoneyBee123/pseuds/HoneyBee123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Veronica was a little girl, she met a mysterious man called The Doctor and took a trip to a magical place with his magical blue box. Years later, she would meet him again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Neptune, California

Veronica met him when she was eight years old.

At the time, she didn't know who he was… or what he was. She saw his big blue telephone box; at least she thought it was a telephone box, at the beach. It was a weird sight to see a bright blue box in the middle of the beach.

At first Veronica thought it was a prank or joke, or some kind of art exhibition which was common in the area. When she saw a man with spiky hair wearing a long brown coat walk out from the box, she was intrigued.

"Who are you?" She asked. "Are you a magician?"

He was looking at her and smiled sadly. "I'm The Doctor." He spoke with an English accent, Veronica noticed. She also noticed that he was a handsome man but was too thin.

Veronica tilted her head to the side. "You don't look like a doctor. Doctors wear white coats. You're wearing a brown coat."

"Well, you are very perceptive, young lady." The Doctor offered a bag of jelly babies.

Veronica shook her head. "I'm not supposed to take anything from strangers."

"Smart girl. And you shouldn't." He pocketed the jelly babies and stared to the horizon. He had his hands in his pocket and his coat was waving from the wind.

Veronica looked at The Doctor curiously. He seemed harmless and wanted to be alone. There was sadness in his eyes as he watched the view in front of him. She then looked at the blue box. There were no tracks or foot prints near the box, so how did this tall box get here? The box was far from the shore so the waves wouldn't erase any tracks. And did the man actually come out from the box?

Veronica glanced towards the tall man who was still looking at the horizon. She decided that she wouldn't bother him, and investigated the curious blue box instead. She approached the box and tilted her head to the side, a sign that she was curious. She circled the box and even tried to take a peek from the tinted window. She couldn't see anything. She touched the sign on the door which read:

POLICE TELEPHONE

FREE FOR USE OF PUBLIC

ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY

OFFICERS AND CARS RESPOND TO URGENT CALLS

She glanced again to the man. The man was police? Then why he said that he was a doctor? Veronica never had seen a Police booth before, although she knew what a telephone booth was. She saw a Superman movie once where Clark Kent went in to the telephone booth and then changed into Superman. She wondered whether the man was Superman.

Veronica was always curious about anything. She was smart for a girl of her age, although she behaved like any other normal little girl. She played with dolls, she demanded that her dad get her a pony, she was healthy and loved to eat lasagna, and she was always observing anything surround her.

She decided to explore more, and opened the Police box. She was expecting a small spaced room because it was logical. The little girl widened her eyes and opened her mouth when she walked into the blue box.

The room was bigger on the inside.

Veronica gasped and walked into the room. She was mesmerized and astonished to see the brown colored room. The room was big and round and there were pillars which looked like corals. There was a huge machine in the middle of the room with many controls and a big colorful tube with some sort a column which bobbed up and down, and it seemed to…breathe.

"Wow." Veronica made a comment. The little girl then laughed like she just discovered a magical land or Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. "So pretty…"

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" The Doctor was behind her as Veronica looked at the huge room. He smiled when she nodded happily. "Her name is TARDIS: Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Do you like the decoration? I haven't changed it for years. It doesn't matter, I mean I travel alone." He sounded lonely for a moment, but Veronica didn't realize it as she was still in awe to see the inside of the TARDIS.

Veronica was spinning around and laughing. "This is a magic box!"

The Doctor was happily circling the big machine in the middle, punching the buttons and pulling the lever few times. "This machine can take you anywhere, any time and space, and everywhere your heart desire! It's hard to explain; especially since you're just a child. I mean, adults have trouble to understand anyway. We can go back in time, forward in time – it's simple really, but humans usually have difficulty understanding – and it's all a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. Have you ever seen Napoleon in person? He's taller than you, but that's not something to be proud of. Do you know that in the future, humans will resemble cats? Do you want to go to Pluto? Or maybe Saturn? Or do you want to go to planet Puppets? We CAN go there, AHA!" He punched several buttons and yelled, "Allons-y!"

Veronica laughed because the man was talking very fast and enthusiastically, like a big child who was talking about his favorite toy. He was so different few minutes ago when he was at the beach and looking very solemn. She watched him tapping the monitor and then pulled and pushed the lever few times, and the TARDIS was shaking suddenly. Veronica yelped and sat on one of the chairs that surrounded the machine. She put her seat belt on when she could feel the TARDIS was moving. She then heard a wheezing sound, followed by a loud thud noise.

"What happened?" Veronica asked. "Were we moving?"

"We arrived!" The Doctor ran to the wooden door and opened it. "Oh, it's so beautiful!" Veronica hurriedly released the seatbelt and ran after The Doctor. She gasped to see the view outside.

The view was breathtaking. They were at the beach. But instead of blue ocean and white sands, they saw purple ocean and golden sands. Veronica jumped up and down to see the view. "Oh, my!" The Doctor grinned widely to see the little girl was so excited. Both of them walked out from the TARDIS. Veronica grabbed a handful of sand and giggled to see the color. The sand resembled glitter. The Doctor looked at the view, and for a moment he looked sad again.

He remembered a certain blonde…. He said goodbye to her at a beach.

Veronica was going to run to the water when he stopped her by blocking her. "I wanna go there!"

The Doctor shook his head. "You can't. I have to get you home."

"But it's so pretty!" She stubbornly pointed to the ocean. She pouted and folded her arms.

"How about when you're older, I will take you everywhere and anywhere you want? Or even come back here. In here, they have dragons. But not now. Your parents will be worried."

Veronica pondered a little, and she tilted her head to the side. The Doctor realized that the little blonde girl was so adorable when she was doing that head tilting. She will break so many hearts in the future, he thought.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"We are in a new planet. It doesn't have a name, I haven't named it yet." He shrugged. "What's your name?"

"Veronica Mars."

The Doctor grinned to hear her name. "Veronica Mars - who lives in Neptune, California." He offered his hand. "Nice to meet you, Veronica Mars."

Veronica shook his hand. "Are you going to take me home?"

The Doctor walked back to the TARDIS. "Why were you alone on that beach?"

Veronica followed him and grabbed his hand. They were holding hands, like a father and a daughter who were enjoying a walk on the beach. "Mom and daddy are in a barbeque party with the Mayor. Daddy is going to be a Sheriff." She told the man. They just met, but she felt safe with him. There was something about this man, who was a stranger, but he made her comfortable. "A new deputy is baby sitting me, but he's so snotty – so I sneaked out."

"Well…" He began.

Veronica pouted. "He wouldn't let me play with my friends. He's too lazy to take me to Shelley Pomeroy's house."

"Who is Shelley Pomeroy?"

Veronica shrugged. "She's a friend from school. She's okay, a bit boring girl. She's having a slumber party, and I was invited – but Deputy Lamb wouldn't let me."

"Deputy Lamb?"

"He prefers to watch TV and drinking beer. I got bored, so I went to the beach."

"Well… I think we should get you home before he gets into trouble." Veronica nodded and skipped to the TARDIS. The Doctor also skipped next to her.

Veronica sat and put her seatbelt on and watched The Doctor made grand movements with his machine; he pressed the buttons, pulled and pushed the lever several times, dinged the bell, even kicked the console, and the TARDIS started to make that wheezing sound. When the TARDIS started to shake, Veronica giggled. Several seconds later, the TARDIS made a thud sound.

"We're here!" The Doctor announced.

Veronica opened her seatbelt and ran to the door and opened it. She was back to at Dog Beach, Neptune. She smiled widely.

It was really a magic box.

She looked back to The Doctor who was leaning back on the console, watching her. "Are you coming too?"

"Nah, I have to go someplace else." He shrugged. "I am after all, an important person." He boasted. Veronica smirked to hear his confidence.

"Can I go with you?"

"Absolutely not!" Veronica pouted and puffed her cheeks. She looked adorable. The Doctor suddenly remembered his own daughter. He laughed, "But I promise I'll be back."

"You promise?" Veronica's eyes were twinkling.

He didn't answer, but he gave her a salute. Veronica smiled and walked out from the TARDIS. She walked several steps away from the TARDIS and watched in awe when the magical blue box made a wheezing noise that made the wind gust and blow her hair, and then it disappeared into thin air.

Veronica thought she was dreaming.

Nobody would believe her. This was something she would keep a secret. A secret about a magical blue box that could take her to magical places along with a strange man called The Doctor. Veronica hoped The Doctor would be back and take her away from this place.

Veronica smiled widely and breathed the ocean air.

She then heard someone was calling her name. "Veronica!" She looked back and saw Don Lamb was walking very fast towards her. "Oh my God, Veronica! I almost had a heart attack!" The 23 year old Deputy was panting and kneeled down in front of her. "Your dad is going to kill me! Why were you running away?" He yelled at her worriedly.

"I was bored." She simply replied.

Lamb rolled his eyes. Veronica was just a little girl, but she was pretty smart and could talk back like nobody's business. "Come on, I'll give you a piggy back ride home." Veronica sighed and climbed to his back. She was holding onto him so tight. "Don't tell your dad that you ran away."

"Buy me some lasagna, and I'll think about it." She said. Lamb groaned and started to walk home with Veronica on his back. "And some chocolate chip cookies ice cream."

"Don't push your luck, kid."

Veronica watched the sunset while they walked back home. She was so happy that the day was definitely not boring.  



	2. Teenage Dream

Veronica was an eight-year-old girl with an active imagination, and there was nothing wrong with that. She would dream about the glittery golden beach and Purple Ocean, and a man with a long brown coat and warm and lonely eyes, standing next to a blue box, waving at her, asking her to go to many fantastic places. His wheezing box that was bigger on the inside, like magic, filled her dreams in so many years to come. Veronica wanted to go back to that…

Sometimes she would open her closet, climbed inside, and wished it were the TARDIS.

She drew the TARDIS and the strange man on papers with crayons and put them on the wall of her bedroom.

Her father once asked who the man was, and she just shrugged, _"The Doctor."_

" _But sweetie… Doctors wear white coats."_ Keith Mars looked at the drawings. _"And they don't have flying… blue telephone boxes?"_

" _It's not a telephone box."_ Veronica finished her drawing of a purple ocean. _"It's bigger on the inside and it can take you to amazing places."_ She looked at her father and grinned _, "And it can travel back in time!"_

Keith smiled and then kissed his daughter's head. _"Sounds great, honey."_

Veronica always thought that nobody would believe her anyway, even when she was telling the truth. And she liked it that way. She loved bedtime stories – the princess and the castle, the prince and the dragons, and now… The Doctor and the TARDIS.

For years, Veronica dreamed about The Doctor; that strange man who would take her on adventures.

* * *

When she turned twelve, Veronica didn't think about the strange man she met at the beach. She even thought that she was imagining the whole thing.

She never met the Doctor. She never went to an unnamed planet. She never walked in golden sand and looked at a purple ocean. She never went inside a booth which was bigger on the inside. That was only a dream…right? She only made those up because she was sad her parents were arguing every night; because her mother passed out in the living room after drinking; and Deputy Lamb started to hate her family because he wanted to be the Sheriff but instead her father got the job.

The Doctor and his TARDIS were her imagination.

It was only her fantasy.

They didn't exist.

* * *

Veronica met Lilly Kane.

The vibrant and full of life, Lilly Kane – who took her hand and ran across the sandy beach of Neptune. _"Run!"_ She said when she just first met her. Veronica didn't know what to say, but she took her hand and ran with her together, laughing. They were running under the boardwalk and then hid behind the pillars, still laughing. Lilly put her index finger to her mouth and shushed her while giggling.

" _Who are we running from?"_

" _My brother."_ She peeked from behind a pillar. Veronica also saw two young boys running after them. Lilly giggled and looked at her, _"I'm Lilly. What's your name?"_

" _Veronica. Veronica Mars."_

Lilly's eyes widened and she smiled like she knew a good secret. _"Veronica Mars? As in Sheriff Mars?"_

" _That's my dad."_

" _Nice to meet you, Ve-ro-ni-ca Maaars,"_ Lilly said. _"We're going to be best friends."_

Veronica didn't know what to say, but she immediately liked her and nodded. _"Which one is your brother?"_

Lilly peeked again and pointed to one of the boys who was standing around and looking for the girls. _"That one: the one who looks like he wants to fart."_ Veronica laughed, and the boys heard her laughter.

One of the boys had a long hair and parted in the middle, pointed at the girls, _"There they are!"_

Lilly shrieked and ran away with Veronica in tow. Her brother apparently was very athletic as he ran very fast and managed to corner both girls as they screamed and laughed. The taller boy grabbed Veronica around the waist and held her tight. Lilly's brother tackled her to the sand.

" _Let me go, Donut!"_

" _I'm gonna kill you, Lilly!"_ He yelled, " _Mom is angry because you wrecked her car!"_

" _Oh, boo-hoo! You don't have proof that I drove that car!"_ Lilly flipped him and she was on top of him, and she messed his hair and slapped him around jokingly.

Veronica squirmed from the other boy's grip, " _Let me go, you tree!"_

The tall boy laughed and let her go, _"You're pretty strong there, shortstop."_ He looked at her appearance; she was wearing a soccer uniform and knee-high socks. Her hair was in pigtails – and for a moment there, he thought that she was cute.

Lilly stomped on her brother's back and went to her new friend _. "Careful, Logie. Flip your hair like that, girls will swoon."_

" _Did it work?"_ He grinned.

Lilly laughed and took Veronica away from him. _"This is my new best friend, Veronica."_

" _Hi… Veronica."_ The tall boy smiled.

" _This is Logan, who thinks that he's all that,"_ Lilly whispered in Veronica's ear. _"His father is Aaron Echolls."_

Veronica frowned, _"Who?"_

Logan looked at her like he was in love when she didn't know who Aaron Echolls was. Lilly, on the other hand, looked at her like she was crazy, _"Veronica, if you want to be my new best friend, please tell me that at least you own a TV?"_ Veronica looked at Lilly, annoyed. _"Aaron Echolls, the movie star? He's like Bruce Willis and Tom Cruise combined! 'Breaking Point'? 'Breaking Point 2'?"_ Lilly pointed to Logan, _"THIS is his son!"_

" _That's good to… know?"_ Veronica said.

Logan laughed and clapped his hands. He then hugged her – Veronica pushed him away angrily. Logan laughed again, _"I think I'm in love."_

" _Silly boy. I thought you're in love with me."_ Lilly winked. She was about to say something else when her brother cleared his throat. _"Oh, this creature who happens to be my brother is Donut."_

" _It's Duncan."_ He corrected her and offered his hand to Veronica. _"Nice to meet you, Veronica."_ He was a handsome boy with the nice manner and seemed shy. Veronica immediately liked him.

Veronica looked at the three tweens in front of her, smiling, not realizing those three kids would change her life upside-down.

* * *

Veronica was sixteen years old.

Lilly Kane was found dead near her swimming pool with her head busted wide open. Someone cracked her skull with an ashtray. Veronica's life changed dramatically when her best friend, Lilly Kane, was murdered in her own home.

Her father, Sheriff Mars, accused Jake Kane, Lilly Kane's father as the murderer. Jake Kane, the most wealthy and powerful man in Neptune decided that Keith Mars overstepped his boundaries and asked the Sheriff to be removed from the office. From that day on, Keith Mars was the public enemy number one in Neptune.

Duncan didn't want to speak with her anymore, and Logan waged a war against the Mars family – therefore Veronica. Veronica was the public enemy number one in Neptune high.

Every time Veronica walked in that school hall, people were sneering and jeering, bumping into her, calling her a slut while coughing, throwing her spitballs, pushing her onto her locker, and one time pushed her to the ground and stepping onto her hand. She saw Logan was watching with his friends, while Duncan was looking away. Her best friends were no longer thinking she existed anymore.

Logan confronted her one day in the computer lab, looked at her with tearful eyes.

" _So does your, uh, does your dad still think that Lilly's father did this? That's my girlfriend. Your friend. Duncan's sister. Your dad is destroying the Kane family. What's the matter with you people, huh? What's the matter with you?"_

Veronica couldn't say anything.

And then a few weeks later after she and her family moved to a small apartment, her mother decided to leave. The loss of status, the loss of income was too much for her. They couldn't afford their house, and a month after her Dad lost his job, her Mom split for good. All she left to her daughter was a unicorn music box and a note saying she would be back for her someday.

A few months later, she lost her virginity.

She didn't know how it happened.

All she knew that she woke up in a bed at Shelly Pomeroy's party, naked, and without a memory of what happened the night before.

When she reported her rape to Sheriff Lamb, he laughed at her face. He didn't believe her and told her that she was trying to accuse men of raping her just like her father accused the wealthiest man in Neptune of killing his own daughter. Don Lamb; who used to babysit her when she was a little girl, was laughing at her for reporting her rape.

She felt like a piece of her soul was gone.

* * *

Veronica just turned seventeen.

She was standing on a cliff, watching the waves crashing down the rocks beneath her.

She just wanted to get this over with.

She wrote a very long goodbye letter to her dad. It made her sad that she couldn't tell him that she had lost her soul for the past year. She wanted her dad to be happy, and she felt that she couldn't give that happiness to him.

" _I am sorry to disappoint you."_

She wrote that to her dad, and she wished that she would be forgiven.

Before she took the plunge, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the breeze and the sun warmed her skin. She didn't realize that tears were rolling down her cheeks. She loved her father and wished that he would find happiness again. _"Goodbye, dad…"_

Veronica took one step over the edge.

As she fell down, she thought she heard a familiar wheezing sound.

Before she realized what happened, she landed on a very soft surface. "Ooof!" It took a solid three minutes for Veronica to actually raise her head and notice that she wasn't impaled on rocks or destroyed in millions of pieces. She was lying on some sort of huge mattress that was as big as a room – then she realized that she was in a huge room as well. She didn't recognize the room, but the coral wall seemed to be familiar. "Am I dead…?" She whispered.

She stood up and tried to balance herself between the soft fabrics. She looked up and saw on the ceiling where there were double doors.

"No, you're not dead."

Veronica saw a thin man with a brown coat, sitting upside down on a chair with a seatbelt on. She widened her eyes and said, "Doctor?"

"Veronica Mars! From Neptune, California! What on earth were you doing? You know you can't fly?" The man cheeringly greeted her. Veronica opened her mouth in shock. Before she could say anything, the whole room shook and they were moving around. Veronica felt like she was inside a washing machine, and with a grunt, she landed on the floor.

The soft mattress inflated and turned smaller, making a plop sound as it was gone under the storage panels. Veronica stood up carefully and noticed that she was inside that room that was bigger on the inside. She stared at the huge console in the middle of the room that bobbed up and down, breathing.

Veronica didn't realize that there were tears rolling down her cheeks as she looked around the TARDIS. She couldn't believe it…

"This is real." Veronica croaked.

After all these years, she finally returned to the TARDIS. It wasn't a dream, it was really happening. She felt so much emotion and indescribable feelings; one minute she was feeling depressed and wanted to die, the next minute she was inside the TARDIS.

She felt overwhelmed.

"Well, of course it's real." The Doctor released his seatbelt and hopped off from his seat, approaching her. "I was on my way to Neptune, the planet, but apparently I took a wrong turn and landed here instead, and I saw you flying off the cliff - which you shouldn't have done because humans can't fly… yet, not for another –" He looked at his watch, "Oh, 500 years or so." He continued his rambling. "And then the TARDIS turned sideways and the mattress popped out like an airbag, which almost CRUSHED me to the wall, by the way!" His English accent sounded thicker than she remembered. "Glad that it's made of Egyptian cotton so you didn't feel any pain when you fell onto it, which is strange enough that it WASN'T made by the Egyptians." He clicked his tongue. "Anyway, the humans of the future develop some sort of exoskeleton that can be planted into humans, so I'm afraid you have to wait…" He touched her cheek, erasing her tears with his thumb. "What am I saying - you'd be gone by then. But if you want to, we can go to the future and check out some of those flying humans." He looked down at the short blonde girl who was teary in front of him. "I mean, I did promise you to take you on a trip." He smiled comfortingly at her.

Veronica didn't say anything. She was speechless.

For nine years, she thought she was imagining it. Maybe what happened at the beach years ago was only her imagination; A fantasy to comfort her when she was feeling lonely.

"Doctor…"

"So what do you say, Veronica Mars from Neptune? Want to take a trip?"

Veronica stared at him with teary eyes. Without saying a word, she hugged him slowly. She buried her face on his chest, and then quietly said, "Yes."


	3. Fly Me To The Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ten said goodbye to Rose Tyler in 2006 (Doomsday) and then he met little Veronica back in 1995. They met again in 2004 after her birthday/suicide attempt in the summer before the school start in September. There will be no Martha Jones, Donna Noble, or Amy Pond in this story. Please enjoy!

Veronica was feeling a little bit overwhelmed. After being rescued from falling down a cliff, The Doctor actually asked her to come with him to travel. And not just any travel, but travelling around the universe to see the stars. This was her dream for a long time, and it came true. She watched as The Doctor whistling and doing his routine, driving the TARDIS. He didn’t wear his brown coat, but he was wearing a matching blue pants suit and a pair of sneakers.

“So what do you think, Veronica Mars? I added extra seats around the console. I was thinking about putting a sofa, but I thought against it because this is not a hotel, you know?”

“N-nice.” Veronica stared at The Doctor, making sure that she wasn’t dreaming.

The Doctor typed something on the keyboard, pulled a lever, and then honked a bicycle honker. Veronica widened her eyes watching his antics. Apparently, that was how you fly the TARDIS.

“Right. Hold on tight.” He kicked the console lightly and the TARDIS made a sound. Veronica felt the TARDIS moved, so she held onto the railings. After few seconds, the TARDIS made a wheezing sound and the movement stopped with a thud. “We arrived!”

“We…we are?” Veronica blinked several times. “Where are we?”

“Go ahead, check out yourself.” The Doctor leaned back against the console and put his hands into his pockets, watching her. Veronica walked to the wooden doors and then opened them. She held her breath when she saw the spectacular view.

“Doctor…”

Veronica was speechless. It was the same beach he had taken her to when she was a child; the purple ocean and the golden sand for the eyes could see. There were two binary planets nearby, and it made the view so beautiful. She could see there were few dragons flew nearby, but they seemed friendly. One of the dragons perched on top of some sort of palm tree and it was watching the TARDIS with its head tilted to the side. The dragons were big as horses and they had feathers and scale on their bodies. They screeched when they flew around the beach like seagulls.

Veronica walked out from the TARDIS and approached the edge of the water. The water was so clear and yet it was so purple.

“Like I mentioned before, I was going to Planet Neptune. Did you know that Neptune have oceans that are made up of liquid diamonds? Beautiful as…well, diamonds – but the water was poisonous. So I thought we could check this planet instead; I mean it’s not as pretty as Neptune is, but it’s okay. And it’s safe as there are no dangerous creatures, I’ve checked.” The Doctor was behind her, rambling as usual, as he approached her. “Do you like it?”

Veronica smiled at him, “I love it, Doctor.”

“I did promise to take you here again.” He looked at her up and down. “You look taller than I remember. Weren’t you this tall?” He gestured with his hand about her height. “That can’t be right. I just saw you recently. You can’t sprout overnight!”

“Doctor, I was only a kid back then.”

“Wait, how old are you now?”

“I’m…” Veronica bit her bottom lip. She remembered she just had her seventeenth birthday without her mother and her friends. It was just her, her dad, and her dog in that small dingy apartment. Her father brought a birthday cake and she blew the candles, trying to hold back the tears. “I’m seventeen now. Doctor, you saw me when I was a little girl.”

“Huh.” The Doctor jutted his lips. “It seems like it was yesterday. Or maybe it was?” He shrugged and then put his arms around her shoulders. They walked slowly on the beach, admiring the view. “Isn’t this place brilliant?”

“What planet is this?” Veronica asked. She rested her head on his shoulder. She felt so safe near him. She felt like she was with her father…

“I haven’t named it yet.” He squeezed her shoulder. “It’s not important anyway. Why humans have a need to name everything? Can’t they just enjoy things as they are?”

Veronica chuckled, “You’re not a human.”

“Well, of course not!” He feigned offense, “But I like humans. They’re brilliant.”

She scoffed, “Really?”

“Don’t you think so?”

Veronica didn’t answer.

Humans were the worst. Her best friend was dead and nobody knew the killer was, her mother left, her friends treated her like a trash, her ex-boyfriend was ignoring her, her other friend was bullying her, the town was treating her father like a leper…

“Whatever you say, Doctor.”

The Doctor saw her facial expression and exhaled, “Well I think they are brilliant. No other species in the universe that can contradict themselves.” He chuckled as if he just told a good joke. “Anyway, I thought this trip might cheer you up.”

“It is, Doctor. Thank you so much. I dreamt about this place for a long time.”

The Doctor made a gesture as if it was a not a big deal. “This is the fifth time I visited this planet.” He looked at her, grinning. “You’re the only person I take here. I thought back then little girls like glittery things.”

“They still do,” Veronica said softly. “You never had someone else with you when you’re traveling, Doctor?”

The Doctor let her go and sighed, “I had many people travelling with me. But they… well, moved on.” He put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, “Or sometimes they can’t stay with me because…”

He trailed off and didn’t finish his sentence. Veronica didn’t push him, but she still looking at the view in front of her. The planets on the horizon were looking so beautiful. The sun warmed her face and she closed her eyes as well.

Then her stomach made a grumbling sound. The Doctor heard it and he laughed, which made her blush. “Sorry… I haven’t eaten since this morning.”

“I know a good place to eat. Do you like dinosaur burger?”

Veronica stared at him as if he was crazy.

* * *

 

“When you said dinosaur burger, I didn’t expect you’d take me to McDonald’s.” Veronica and The Doctor were sitting at a table of McDonald’s. Veronica looked around and there were people and aliens eating and waiting in line to order food. She saw a green alien was taking an order at the cashier from a humanoid alien wearing some sort of spacesuit. She could hear the cashier was asking whether the alien wanted some fries. She watched The Doctor slurping his soda. “Where the hell are we?”

“Oi! Language.” The Doctor dipped his fry into green tomato ketchup. “I thought we’d get something to eat where you are familiar with the food. McDonald’s is pretty popular on earth, right?” Veronica nodded warily as she inspected the meat inside the buns. “Ough, technically everything from earth was from dinosaurs.”

She was, again, overwhelmed with the whole situation when they arrived at a space station on the moon. She was in awe when she stepped outside the TARDIS and saw so many aliens walking around. The space station looked like an intergalactic airport or some sort – there were computerized signs and monitors with many different languages including Aliens, English, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and many more. She saw ticket counters and aliens with flight attendant uniforms – even some alien tourists; complete with Hawaiian shirts and straw hats carrying suitcases.

“And you took me to an airport food court.” Veronica grinned at him.

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he chewed his fries, “It’s an intergalactic space station. This is where everyone goes to places.”

“I thought everyone can come and go as they please – like you.” She raised her eyebrow.

“Well, not everyone has a spaceship, do they?” The Doctor bragged. “Besides, after the World War Five, your Earth government is trying to put database for alien refugees that are coming from their war-torn planets so they decided to put this space station on the moon to monitor the aliens. It’s harder and harder to get into planet Earth in this era. Glad that it doesn’t apply to me, because…” He shrugged and plopped another fry into his mouth. “Well, I am The Doctor.” He chewed the fry, looking very smug.

“World War Five?” Veronica widened her eyes in horror. “What year is this?”

“Doesn’t matter. If you ask me, it’s more about capitalism.” He pointed out the food court and the shopping boutiques around them.

Veronica shook her head in disbelief. “Please tell me that I won’t be alive to even witness World War Three!”

The Doctor grimaced, “Now in my defense, I couldn’t stop those wars because I was on the edge of the universe trying to stop the Daleks from taking over before the World War 3 on earth.” Veronica stared at him dumbfounded. “It’s hard to explain. It’s more about timey-whimey stuff.” He cleared his throat. “Don’t worry about it. Eat your dino burger.”

“Can’t you just… go back in time… or forward in time… I don’t know… to stop the wars?”

“Well…” He scratched his head. “Humans are more difficult to convince when it’s about their wars. Believe me, there are some world leaders that I’d rather not talk to.”

Veronica decided she’d rather not know about everything because it made her head hurt. She started to eat her burger, surprised it was actually good. She chewed slowly, trying to decide whether it was actually a dinosaur burger. “Is this a real dinosaur?”

“Yep.”

“How? Dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago!”

“Silly girl, they cloned dinosaurs in the 22nd century. Your human scientists managed to extract some dino DNA and then cloned it.”

“So I guess the movie got it right?”

“What movie?”

“…Jurassic Park?”

“I am more of a book reader.”

“It was based on a book.”

“Huh. I better check it out sometimes.” He shrugged. “I can always go to The Library.”

“The Library?”

“It’s a planet-sized book repository. I will take you there next.”

“A planet library?” The Doctor nodded and grinned. Veronica shook her head; everything was so strange and brand new to her, she decided to accept it.

While she was eating her burger, she noticed a family was walking together, talking, and laughing. They looked like humans with antennas and they were wearing some sort of Hawaiian robes. She saw the father picked up the smaller child and put him on his shoulders. The child laughed and raised his hands and yelled happily. The mother was pushing a baby carriage and she was smiling. They looked like a happy family on a vacation.

Veronica swallowed hard.

Suddenly she felt like there were rocks inside her stomach. Here she was, eating a dino burger with a stranger on the moon, while her father was all alone on planet earth. Did he get the suicide note she wrote back in their apartment? He was away in Mexico, chasing a bail jumper when she put the note on the kitchen table. Her dog, Backup, was whining when she left him alone in the apartment. For any consolation, she thought at least her dad would be with Backup. She blinked her tears away as she drank her soda, not feeling hungry anymore.

She missed her dad so much.

What kind of daughter was she? She left her dad alone, after she made a decision to stand with her dad when he accused Jake Kane of killing his daughter. Her decision to stand with her dad had great consequences to her life – but that wasn’t supposed to make her to make a drastic decision like this…

If The Doctor hadn’t saved her life…

“Something on your mind?” The Doctor asked while he was looking out the window. The view was planet earth and it was a breathtaking view. Veronica looked outside too and she had an urge to cry. “Do you regret coming with me?”

Veronica shook her head hard. “No.”

“Then what is it?”

“Nothing.” Veronica forced herself to smile. “It’s just… it’s too much for me to handle right now. I mean, look – I am sitting in McDonald’s eating a dino burger on the moon with an alien.” She choked a chuckle. “You’d think a big blue box that is bigger on the inside is the top of the top.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” The Doctor smiled. He knew why she was sad, but he was also a master of avoidance. Veronica wouldn’t talk about it, so he wouldn’t say anything. The best thing right now was to make her happy, and this trip – he didn’t know for how long it would take – should be good for both of them. He just lost Rose at the parallel universe, at that lonely beach, when she told him that she loved him. The worst thing was he couldn’t say it back as the TARDIS already took too much energy, and Rose disappeared forever. When the TARDIS took him to Neptune, California, and saw Veronica, he knew that he needed to be there for her. It was a fortunate timing from the TARDIS when he was transported back to California again, and he saw Veronica was hurtling herself off the cliff. He was glad that he was on time to save her.

“Where are we going after this?” Veronica asked.

The Doctor clapped his hands, “Right! Where do you want to go?”

She smiled, “I’ll go everywhere you go.”

The Doctor grinned, showing his pearly-white teeth. He offered his hand to her, “Let’s go!”

* * *

 

Inside the TARDIS, The Doctor was trying to control the console. The TARDIS itself was bucking and Veronica was hanging on the console. “Why do you want me to fly this thing?!? I don’t know anything!”

The Doctor was holding on to the console as well. His foot was on the surface of the console, trying to keep the lever steady, while his other foot was on the floor. His hands were busy pushing and pulling buttons. “Push that square button twice and pulled that metal thingy above you! I only have two hands!” Veronica tried to do exactly what he instructed. She yelped when the TARDIS shook very hard, and she fell on the floor panel. The TARDIS stopped immediately and The Doctor exhaled loudly. “Phew, that was fun. Wasn’t it fun?”

“Yeah, a bag of fun.” Veronica sarcastically answered as she got up. She watched The Doctor putting the console back to normal. “Damn, do you have to pass a test to fly this thing?”

“Yes, and I failed it.” He gleefully looked at the monitor to see outside.

“But how do you travel in time? What makes it go?”

The Doctor groaned, “Oh let’s take the fun and mystery out of everything! Veronica Mars, you don’t want to know. It just does.” He pointed at the wooden door. “Now, make the most of it. I promised you time travel, and voila - outside that door, a brave new world.”

“Where are we?”

“Take a look.” He opened the door and let Veronica walk out first. “After you.” The TARDIS apparently landed on a field and both of them walked outside as they inhaled deeply; which resulted in her coughing and he made a happy sound.

“What is that smell?!” Veronica covered her nose while choked.

“Fresh air, my dear – no pollution, no smokes, no air freshener that could ruin the ozone…”

“It could use some air freshener!” She made a face.

“What do you mean?? Look at the view. Here we are--Jamestown, Virginia. 1650-ish. See, no cars whatsoever.”

“Only cow dungs.” She gagged and pointed to the cows that were everywhere. The cows mooed while they were sniffing the TARDIS. “And probably some…human fecal matters.”

“What do you expect? These colonies haven’t invented indoor plumbing. People relieved themselves in a bucket and then threw the dejection to the street. Fascinating, isn’t it?” He explained happily. “Funny tidbit; did you know the origin of slapstick comedy was actually coming from King’s Court where the jesters purposely slipped on a banana peel to symbolized poor people slipping on the ordure? Kings never walked on the street, so this was funny to them.”

“Charming.” Veronica deadpanned. “Laughing at the poor people’s misfortune.”

The Doctor chuckled, “Yes – it’s horrible, isn’t it? I saw one of the performances back then during Henry V’s tenure. So funny, I couldn’t stop laughing.” He looked at her, “But come on! Look at this! Isn’t this great?”

Veronica smiled, “Yes. I can’t believe it. We really went back in time, are we? This is… this is amazing.” They both entered the town and she was mesmerized to see the houses and the people. “I can’t believe that we’re actually hundreds of years before the modern 20th century.” She watched a gaggle of people were walking in the street. “This is like walking into a movie set.” She looked at The Doctor. “This is the real thing, right? You’re not pulling my leg? We’re actually in 17th century, and not just a Hollywood set, right?”

The Doctor opened his mouth in disbelief, “O ye a little faith. After flying dragons and a space station, you’d think I would take you to a fake city.”

“I’m just joshing with you.” Veronica giggled and hugged his arm as they walked together. “Oh my god, we traveled in time. We are so traveled in time!” She sounded excited. The Doctor grinned. He loved that giggle; something apparently never changed. They walked and looked at the street – noises and sounds from the past and present seem intertwined.

The Doctor pulled Veronica aside, “Ooh! Watch out!”

A man emptied his slop bucket from a house to the street while yelling drunkenly, “Eat this!”

The Doctor held Veronica’s hand and they both tried to maneuver their walk from the street filth. “I can’t wait until they invented the flush toilet. Sorry about that.”

“I’ve seen worse.” Veronica grimaced. “If you live in California for a long time, you bound to see things.” She looked around. “But are we safe? I mean, can we move around and stuff?”

“Of course we can. Why do you ask?”

“It’s like in that TV episode from The Ray Bradbury Theater: you step on a butterfly, you change the future of the human race.”

“Tell you what then; don’t step on any butterflies. What butterflies ever done to you?” The Doctor sounded aghast. “You watch a lot of movie and TV apparently!”

Veronica rolled her eyes, a bit annoyed at The Doctor. “What if, I don’t know if I kill my great grandmother?” She looked around. “I am sure my family is Anglo-European.”

“Italian-Polish, my guess.” He pulled a strain of blonde hair from her head and sniffed it, which made her slapped his arm, but he ignored her. “Yep, definitely white.” He then looked at her. “Look, are you planning to kill your grandmother?”

“No!”

“Well then.” And the matter was finished as The Doctor held her hand again. Veronica shook her head, a bit exasperated but walked with him anyway. Veronica looked left and right, holding The Doctor’s hand tightly. She didn’t know how to feel to be in the middle of the street with these people from the past. But she braved herself and walked amongst them. “Look, if there were any danger whatsoever, I mean let’s face it, this is Virginia back in the day where they treat the natives poorly –“

“Annihilated.” Veronica corrected him.

“ – let’s just run and go back to the TARDIS. Okay?” He said to her. “But in the meantime, just walk about like you own the place.” He shrugged. “Besides, you’d be surprised that people back then not so different from your time.”

“Okay…” They walked hand in hand together, sightseeing. They could see the Jamestown’s church in the middle of the town. “I wish I bring my camera,” Veronica said.

“I don’t get why humans like to take pictures all the time.” He blew a raspberry. “Just enjoy the moment, will ‘ya?”

* * *

 

They both were running back to the TARDIS as they were chased by a mob of people with pitchforks and torches. They managed to get inside and closed the door immediately. Both were panting and breathing very hard, as they pressed their backs on the door. They could hear angry mob was yelling and shouting.

“I’M SO ENJOYING THIS SO MUCH!” Veronica yelled sarcastically. “What did you do to those people – they are so angry at you!”

“Shush! I don’t know! I must’ve done something in the past – or future.” Both went to the console and started it. “Help me fly this thing, and let’s get out from here.”

They immediately flew the TARDIS to some new place. Veronica actually enjoyed the beginning of their adventure; not knowing what would happen in her future.


End file.
